So I got the bluray copy of the 2012 Dredd, obviously a comic book adaption of Judge Dredd. Now the comic itself has been running 30 years and I'm a big fan. I mean I haven't read them all but I've read quite a bit into a lot of the newer comics and long story short it's just cool to see a dude shoot criminals in a future city.

Now in my opinion, this is a very well made film, one that successfully captures the essence of the Judge Dredd comic, delivering brutal action by the bucket-load, excellent central performances, and inspired direction, all looking cool with some very intense special effects.

Now I'm not saying it's a great movie because I'm a big fan of the comic, I'm saying it's good because it's true to the comic. The movie tackled the problem of filming a comic book by making something that looks nothing like a comic book and more like an action movie shot on location, with a simple linear plot that keeps rolling and never slows down.

No I&#Array;m not telling you how I got these scars why would you ask me that you creep!

The plot revolves around a drug which makes time seem to slow down a hundred times, the perfect excuse for scenes of ultra slo-mo explosive bloody (and beautiful) anatomically correct violence that earn this film its 18 rating. Not a kid's movie at all. Every supporting actor looks like they came out of a gang documentary, scarred, nasty, sweaty and mean. Lena Headey totally kicks ass as the ruthless gang lord Ma Ma, calmly relishing the deaths of her enemies, eyes sledging from narcotic addiction.

In a city full of criminals, your gun is your only friend. Oh and Dredd but he isn&#Array;t very nice at all

In a way this is Olivia Thirlby's movie, since she gets the character arc, rookie judge Cassandra Anderson assigned to Dredd for evaluation and finding herself on a very steep learning curve. She is vulnerable, spikey and tough as called for, vital to the movie in order to balance Dredd.

The stone cold fist of Justice, Judge Dredd

But who is Judge Dredd? He is the opposite of a character. He has no personal arc, never changes or grows. He has no sense of humour, the comic finds that by placing utterly deadpan face in ironic situations that reflect off him. And where do you find an actor prepared to wear a helmet obscuring everything but his mouth and chin for the whole 95 minutes? Karl Urban must be a huge fan himself to play the part so right. I didn't see Urban anywhere in this movie, all I saw was Dredd.

Think of him this way, you know how Batman's all like "I am the law" and has a tough attitude in the suit? Now imagine if he never took it off and killed criminals. That is Dredd.

So if you want to see a great comic book adaption, or even a brutal and gritty action flick, I highly recommend you check this out.

Well that's it for now, don't do drugs and stay in school! Or don't whatever, I just like to have one good message in every blog.

So recently I came across the independent drama film "The Vicious Kind", starring Adam Scott (Parks and Rec), Brittany Snow (Pitch Perfect) and J.K Simmons (Jonah Jameson in Spider man). The movie won several awards at different festivals, including nominations at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Turns out Adam Scott won a bunch of awards at independent film festivals for this, and well deserved.

I decided to check it out, and turns out Adam Scott is freakin brilliant.

The premise of this movie seemed interesting enough for me to give it a try. The story revolves around Caleb, a misogynist construction worker in a small town. His younger brother Peter just got his first "serious" girlfriend, which he is bringing for Thanksgiving to their dad's.

This sneaks up on you. At first you can't believe how awful the main character is, but he's strangely perceptive and quick too. Played by Adam Scott, he's really a wonder to watch, and he makes the movie. The other three main characters end up being strong but supporting roles, making for a great small ensemble performance. And they have a curious, not spectacular, but modern plot. It's filled with little clichés we are sure we've seen before, but it all has an odd arc to it, and a cutting, believable edge, and it takes on a life of its own.

What a sec, this isn&#Array;t a porno is it?

If you want solid acting, look no further. The movie's set in a boring desolate town with no visual effects so all the emphasis is on the drama. But the drama is goood. The main themes are pain, guilt and love and I wouldn't say its a feel-good movie. There's a lot of passion though. Look forward to a sex scene with Brittany Snow (Bow chicka wow wow).

Now just sit on these steps and look serious......aaannnd ACTION!

If I were to sum this movie up in a sentence, its a strong story about people who find it too hard to do the right thing. This is one of those movies where art imitates life, take that as you will. I wouldn't say this is a movie for everyone, but if you want a decent drama with even a few laughs you should check this out.

Well that's it for now, be nice to people and follow your dreams or something.

So I came across a blu ray copy of a pretty cool movie. Today I thought I would talk about "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World". It was at the movies earlier this year but I guess I missed it. If you want to skip reading this, just know I thought it was great!

Poster Cover

Now this hasn't being getting the BEST reviews, but personally I love the movie. Steve Carell plays an insurance salesman with a failed marriage and Kiera Knightly plays an average woman who regrets the things she didn't do in her life. Both of them give fantastic performances. So basically these guys are in a world that's ending. An asteroid is going to hit the earth, and the movie starts when the asteroid is 3 weeks out.

I guess the movie explores how these characters actually deal with the world ending, they're not really any cheesy moments but it is kinda funny. It's more of a drama though, and that's where Knightly shines.

"At least we can eat whatever we want, I&#Array;m going to drink 2%"

The movie gets off to a low start, since both characters aren't at a very great time in their lives. I mean, even if the world wasn't ending. But by the end I think it's worth it. I wouldn't seem like these two work well together, and at some points I think they don't. But hey, I think this movie has a really good message too it.

That message is "hey, we aren't going to be here forever". Now that's not telling you to do anything crazy, or anything at all. But it just reminds us that our life is ticking away, one heartbeat at a time. That means if you want to do something, you're going to have to take a chance. So I guess in a way it's a feel good movie. I liked it, and if you're into a decent drama I think you will too.

So I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises, yeah yeah I'm so late and everyone's seen it I know. But it was still freakin awesome! You may be able to tell from my blog that I'm a bit of a Batman fan, so this was pretty exciting to see. Kudos to Christian Bale for doing a GREAT job and being the only actor to star in 3 Batman movies!

I could go on about this movie for AGES, but I'm going to cut it down to two things that were on my mind while watching this movie.

The first thing is more of a question. That question is what the hell is up with Bane's voice!! He sounds like my English professor, and that's just weird. Now Bane's a well known character, as a kid watching Batman cartoons I know Bane was ALWAYS had a voice like a really mean bully. This is also the case in both the recent "Batman: Arkham Asylum" and "Batman: Arkham City" video games. Not exactly the same voice, but you get the gist of it. A deep rumble of a voice, but not like Batman but kind of like a Angry WWE Wrestler.

Oh shit, how am I mean to eat pizza with this thing!

According to Tom Hardy (the actor who played Bane), he based his voice for Bane on Bartley Gorman (1944 - 2002), an Irish Traveller who was the undefeated Bare-knuckle boxing champion of the United Kingdom. I kind of get why Hardy chose to do this, but in my opinion he sounded fucking ridiculous. I mean, I just think a dude gets born in the dark and hangs out in a prison for most of his life shouldn't sound like that.

The second thing is more of a "What if" scenario. We all know Anne Hathaway scored the role of Catwoman. But only just. While I think she did a great job, I can't help but think that she might not have been the right choice for the role. I'm going to show you four other contenders for Catwoman that got past the initial screen tests, but were ultimately denied. Now I know a lot of people have different opinions on who should have played the femme fatale (Olivia Wilde anyone?) but these women were actually very close to getting the role. So let's see...

Gemma Arterton got past the initial audition, but was turned down shortly after that.

Number 1: Gemma Arterton. She's known for starring in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and doing it with Daniel Craig in "Quantum of Solace". She also starred in the not as well known "Tamara Drewe". Personally I don't think she would have done a better job than Anne Hathaway anyway.

Kate Mara also passed the initial screen test, but didn&#Array;t make into the final round of casting.

Number 2: Kate Mara. She played Kristi in "127 Hours" and Sarah in 2007's "Shooter". She was also in Iron Man 2, and a bunch of crime shows like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", "Law and Order" and "Cold Case". She might have been able to pull off Catwoman, but we'll never know. She got about as far as Gemma did in terms of Casting.

Jessica Beil made it to the final round of auditions with Anne.

Number 3: Jessica Biel. Already a seasoned actress, you might have seen her in the recent "Hitchcock" and "Total Recall" but she's got a whole list of great roles under her belt. I think she may have done a fantastic job as the world's greatest jewel theif.

Keira Knightly also made it into the final screen test with Hathaway and Biel.

Number 4: Keira Knightly. "Pirates of the Caribbean". "Pride and Prejudice". You should know this one. Knightly, Hathaway and Biel were the 3 finalists for the role. I think she and Biel would have performed equally well as Selina Kyle.

In my mind, I think Jessica Biel would have been a better Catwoman. But hey, Anne did a FANTASTIC job. If you have any thoughts about anything I've talked about here, feel free to leave a comment!

So recently, I came across something REALLY interesting. A friend and I were walking back from subway and we saw a group of homeless people. This is unusual in my area, I mean we have tons of drug dealers and car theives but it's usually really quiet. No homeless people or violent crime here. So we gave them some change as we went past, and we were talking about how someone should do something. That's when he told me about this documentary he'd seen a while ago.

At the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, HBO Documentaries presented a film called "Superheroes". Directed by Mike Barnett, Superheroes is about a movement that involves people dressing up and fighting crime. To no one's surprise, it's usually referred to as the "Real Life Super Hero" (RLSH) Movement". I didn't think people like this even existed, but it's a surprisingly large community, and you can check out the trailer here...oh and the great Stan Lee was involved in this production as well!

So real life superheroes are people who dress up in costumes, and help the needy and take action against crime. Basically they are people who do things that they believe will help their community. As I've seen in the documentary, this can range from handing out supplies to the homeless to trying to combat violent crime by patrolling the streets. But don't take it from me, see for yourself!

Now I'll start off by saying that if nothing else, the documentary is interesting. Interesting because it's so real, it really gets inside the minds of these people who dress up in costumes and shows you the real motivation behind what they do. I liked it quite a bit. A lot of the time, the situation is that someone has been a victim of crime, or otherwise had a tough life or life-changing experience. Then they have this incredibly strong motivation to help people, although I've noticed that they dress up because 99% of the time these people are big comic book fans.

"You don&#Array;t have to dress up to be a hero, you just need the motivation to help people."

Now at first, these people were among the most hilarious you'd ever see. I mean come on, people dressing up and fighting crime? This is priceless!! So I got a LOT of laughs out of this. But a little later down the track, this documentary really pulled on my heartstrings. There's a clear message that these people sincerely do want to help people, a lot of the time they help by giving supplies to the homeless and disadvantaged. The filmmakers really took the time to get right into the lives of these people, right into the reasons WHY they do this. Behind all the costumes these people are just good Samaritans who want to help, and the costumes are so people take notice of what they're doing. By the large number of news reports on the "Real Life Super Hero" Community I'd say they're definitely raising awareness.

You can have a look at the producers youtube channel here to find out more ---- http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperheroesDoc

or can visit the movie's website here --- http://superheroesthemovie.com/

There's a lot more I could say about this production, but I'm going to end it by saying that you should check it out. It's all completely real, and in my opinion it's worth your time.